


and remember men will scorn it

by green_tea31



Series: I have loved the stars too fondly [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, F/M, First Meetings, Gen, Time Shenanigans, the Jack/Matty is in the past, time travelers always meet in the wrong order, tiny bit of future Mac/Jack implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 10:04:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17743829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_tea31/pseuds/green_tea31
Summary: “Down!” Jack will forever blame it on what little alcohol he’s had that he doesn’t react first and has to be rescued by what he, until that moment, thought was a civilian.Blonde and curvy grabs his arm and throws them both down behind one of the tables in front of the bar, trying to find cover, while a blue stream of…something goes over their heads and destroys a good portion of the bar.(Jack Dalton, meet River Song. Mexican style.)





	and remember men will scorn it

**Author's Note:**

> Well, who doesn't love these two? Also, it's my headcanon that once upon a time Jack and Matty were a thing, at least before Ethan.  
> I was honestly surprised, and happy, that people actually seem to enjoy this crossover.
> 
> General warning for River Song. If you want to know why, scroll to the end notes.
> 
> As always, self - betaed, all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Title once again from "The Old Astronomer" by Sarah Williams.

TEQUIXQUIAC, MEXICO…A long, long time ago.

 _Jack is wearing pants again_.

No matter where in the world Jack happened to be, there was always a bar like this. Small, dimly lit and with plenty of cheap but decent alcohol.

After the day he’s had one or two shots of the local spirit of choice should help him come down from the adrenaline rush of the op. Normally he’d never drink on the job but they are pretty much finished in this town and Matty had thrown him out of the dingy little apartment they’d shared for longer than Jack cared to think about and told him not to come back until he’d worked out his tension.

Of course, there is always another way to calm down after an op but he and Matty had gone down that road before and…no. It had been fun but Jack is too fond of living to try for a repeat performance.

“Hello there, soldier.”

There are very few people who can sneak up on Jack Dalton and, except for Matilda Webber, none of them should be in the ass end of nowhere that is Tequixquiac, Mexico. The blonde bombshell in a lovely black dress and heels far too high for a town like this, who’s just taken the seat next to him, isn’t one of them.

Very nice curves, lips painted an attention grabbing shade of fire engine red, she smiles at him. “Terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Just thought you looked lonely here at the bar.” She motions to the bartender. “I’m having whatever he’s having.” She orders and turns her smoky blue eyes back on him. “Thought I’d provide some company.”

Jack is torn. Normally he’d be all over an offer like that, but he’s a suspicious bastard by nature and, if years of training and experience have taught him one thing, it’s that women like that don’t simply turn up dressed like her in bars in towns no one north of the border has ever heard of without a very specific agenda – one that might or might not have something to do with Jack’s reason to be here as well.

He swallows the rest of his drink and gets up. “Lady, appreciate the offer but I should get home. The missus doesn’t like it when I’m out too late, you know?” He hopes to God, Matty will never find out what he’s just implied or he can kiss his existence goodbye. He’s going back to their room and then he and Matty are going to spend the rest of the night trying to find out who this woman is and if she’s going to be a problem. Hopefully they can get out of this fucking town by morning.  

Just as he turns back to the bartender to settle his tab, something at the back of the bar catches his eye. One of the other patrons, kind of greasy fellow, dirty blond hair, strange green eyes, not from around here, has gotten up and is rummaging around his pockets.

Jack had initially pegged him as some kind of drifter, making his way around Mexico, running from whatever it was that made him leave his home in the first place.

Now, however, he looks like he’s frantically trying to turn his pockets inside out, looking for something and, what’s even more important, he’s looking right at Jack with fear in his eyes. No wait, he isn’t looking at Jack, he’s looking at blonde and curvy and taking something out of his pocket which he aims in their direction…

“Down!” Jack will forever blame it on what little alcohol he’s had that he doesn’t react first and has to be rescued by what he, until that moment, thought was a civilian.

Blonde and curvy grabs his arm and throws them both down behind one of the tables in front of the bar, trying to find cover, while a blue stream of…something goes over their heads and destroys a good portion of the bar.

No, not destroys – more like _disintegrates_ a good portion of the bar including the bartender, poor guy, and normally Jack would be more upset about that but right know he’s more interested in not getting himself killed.   

“Lady…” Jack starts and she turns around and looks at him almost as if she knows him – or should know him but can’t quite remember how or where from.

“What’s your name, soldier?” She asks and turns back around as their opponent stops shooting and things quieten down for the moment. Jack isn’t getting up, though. He knows what comes next. The guy is probably just reloading or…recharging before he starts shooting again. Jack looks around the bar, trying to find something that’s a bit more useful in fighting a guy with a space gun than the two knifes he has strapped to his person, cursing himself for breaking his rule about never going anywhere without at least one gun. The local police had been extra vigilant after Jack’s little chase that afternoon and he didn’t want to risk being caught with an illegal gun. Matty would have killed him.

Now space guy might kill both of them and half the bar’s patrons, too, and Jack really needs to get names for these people yesterday. Can’t keep calling them space guy and blonde and curvy in his head forever.

Speaking of…

“Name’s Jack Dalton. And what’s yours, Darling?” Jack answers, realising too late that he gave her his real name and cursing space guy for throwing him off his game enough to make a rookie mistake like that.

“Jack Dalton from Texas? The one in the United States, early 21st century? Middle name Wyatt? That Jack Dalton?” She asks and Jack thinks he should be more wary of a strange woman in a dress more suited to a black tie gala than this bar who knows his name and place of birth, but something about the way she asks catches his attention.

“What do you mean, early 21st century? It’s not like that’s optional.”

She grins at him. It’s a wild thing her grin – full with the promise of mischief and mayhem and one day Jack will look back to this moment and realise why that gleam in her eyes seems so eerily familiar.

“It is where I come from.”

In that moment space guy starts shooting again and afterwards Jack will remember the next few minutes as a confusing blur of futuristic laserfire, cursing and running after blonde and curvy when she follows the shooter out of the bar’s backdoor. She’s surprisingly fast on her heels and Jack is only a few seconds behind, running into the alley behind the bar, but when he gets there the shooter is gone and his saviour (she did save him in that bar, even if it takes Jack the better part of two decades to admit it to anyone but himself) is strapping a weird contraption to her arm that looks like a mix between Jack’s favorite leather cuff and an oversized wristwatch.

Jack stops cold. The alley is empty except for the two of them but he can’t make out any escape routes so…

“Where’s the guy? Jack asks her, not really expecting an honest answer – or one that makes sense.

She turns to him and smiles almost pityingly. “It’s too bad, really. We could have had so much fun.”

She makes a few adjustments to the straps and draws closer and Jack can almost make out some weird buttons and blinking symbols in a language he’s never seen before.

Her eyes are mesmerizing, Jack thinks and he lets her get close enough to press a dry, weirdly familiar kiss to his lips.

“But I don’t think he’d forgive me. And besides, I like the kid too much to interfere with his future like that.” She tells him and takes a step back.

Jack wants to ask her what kid and who wouldn’t forgive her for what, but realises that he’s been drugged, because he sways on his feet, his head feels fuzzy and the last thing he sees before unconsciousness takes him is blonde and curvy just… _vanishing._  

Fuck. He never even got her _name_.

 ...

Jack wakes up with the hangover from hell.

It’s really less waking up and more being dragged back to consciousness by the voice of Matilda Webber standing in front of him while the sunlight wages a merciless attack on his eyes. He could have sworn he’d avoided this particular scenario by leaving yesterday, before either of them could push the other down to the dirty mattress in the corner of their room to work out the lingering adrenaline.

Then memory sets in and the events in the bar hit Jack with the speed and pain level of an approaching freight train.

He’s in so much _shit_.

“Yes you are, Dalton. And yes, you said that out loud.” Matty answers his unasked question, uncompromising but strangely gentle, and Jack thinks she probably knows that he didn’t get drunk last night but was shot at and then drugged and left in an alley.

It’s nice to know she cares…a bit.

He gets up from the narrow cot in the jail cell where he’s obviously spent the rest of the night and immediately regrets it because the room starts spinning. Steadying himself with one hand on the bars, Jack looks around. Matty is standing in the open door of his cell, arms crossed and glaring impatiently.

“Matty…” Jack begins but hesitates. He’s pretty sure whatever he’s about to tell her is going to sound like the crazy ravings of a lunatic and Matilda Webber is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them, so Jack’s pretty sure he not going to get away with lying.

Maybe if he… _omits_ certain things. Jack’s had a long career in the shadier parts of the U.S government. He knows how to bullshit his way through debriefings.

“Don’t even think about it, Dalton.” Matty admonishes and turns around, walking towards the exit.

Clearly, he’s expected to follow.

“Think about what?” Jack asks weakly and follows Matty out of a cleverly hidden side entrance he hadn’t even noticed was there. She must have already cleared things up with the locals then.

Jack is expecting the car they’d been using getting around this town, a nearly thirty year old hunk of junk so badly maintained, Jack always prayed to whomever would listen it wouldn’t break down as soon as he’d turned a corner, but instead there’s a veritable fleet of black SUVs in front of them. And in front of the cars there’s a man waiting who’s too pretty to work for the CIA and too noticeable to work for any of the smaller agencies.

Matty stops in front of the man and doesn’t extend her hand. He doesn’t seem to care, just grins at them and dear God, Jack hadn’t thought the guy could get any prettier but well…

“Harkness.” Matty addresses the guy. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” She sounds annoyed and Jack thinks it’s nice to know that he isn’t the only one who can get that tone of voice out of her.

Harkness doesn’t lose any of his cheer. “Aw, Matilda. I thought you missed me?” he turns his gaze to Jack and offers a handshake. Jack takes it.

“Captain Jack Harkness.” He introduces himself with a flirty grin and Jack is almost tempted to flirt back but Matty clearing her throat stops him.

“This is Jack Dalton. He’s run into the kind of problem that we generally don’t deal with.” She looks to the ground for a moment and then up at Harkness before turning her gaze to Jack. He gets the strange feeling she’s about to tell him something he really doesn’t want to hear.

“Like he said, this is Captain Jack Harkness, we worked a few ops together in the past. Now brace yourself, Dalton. Your world’s about to get a lot bigger.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> At one point in the fic River kisses Jack without his consent. Like a lot of River's kisses, this is an assault meant to render Jack unconscious because her lipstick is poisonous. In canon I think she mostly has hallucinogenic lipstick but that didn't really fit the story. This River has both.


End file.
